STUDY OF FEEDING BEHAVIOUR AGAINST GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT PARAMETERS OF Heliothis armigera ON TOMATO

: Heliothis armigera is an economically important, polyphagous pest. It feeds on wide range of crops such as tobacco, tomato, cauliflower, peas, maize, brinjal, groundnut, soya bean, cotton etc. It affects the quantitative and qualitative fruit production in more than 157 plant species. Damage is caused by larval stages. Larva bores deeply in the fruit and causes severe damage. The pest Heliothis armigera feeding on five tomato varieties (Pant Bahar, Ratna, Arka Saurabh, Pusa Gaurav and Arka Abha) was analyzed for different growth parameters such as adult emergence, sex ratio and longevity. In the present study, maximum adult emergence (74.33%) was recorded in Pusa Gaurav, followed by Pant Bahar (72.65%) while minimum emergence (62.62%) was noticed in Arka Saurabh tomato variety. The maximum longevity of male Heliothis armigera was recorded on tomato variety Pant Bahar (24.33 days), followed by Pusa Gaurav (19.50 days), Ratna (20.30 days) and Arka Abha (22.65 days) while minimum in Arka Saurabh (18.55 days). The maximum female longevity (31.67 days) was recorded on Pant Bahar while minimum on Arka Saurabh (22.93 days). Observation recorded on tomato varieties indicated that sex ratio was maximum on Pant Bahar (1:1.85) which was at par with Arka Abha (1:1.46), Ratna (1:1.29), Pusa Gaurav (1:1.06) and Arka Saurabh (1:0.98) respectively.